As the Chancellor prepares to deliver his budget statement this morning, the anaerobic digestion industry is calling for him to recognise the global opportunity for UK companies and researchers in biogas, digestate and bioproducts.

In a policy paper to the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) has called on government to allocate at least £25 million of an increased innovation programme worth £500 million over the next five years.

To support the call,  the ADBA will use its sixth Research and Innovation Forum on 6-7 April in York to further develop the AD industry’s world-class academic base and to assess how the additional funding could best support the UK in becoming the market leader in anaerobic digestion and bioprocessing.

The ADBA’s Chief Executive, Charlotte Morton, commented:

“The potential export value of anaerobic digestion technology is over £2 billion per year for a decade, and yet UK exports are currently estimated at just £50 - £100 million. 

“That is why we are calling on government to allocate £25 million of the increased innovation programme for demonstration projects, such as power-to-methane and digestate processing. Supporting such new technologies through industry could bring ways of sustaining the sector with reduced reliance on financial mechanisms, allowing AD to remain the most cost-effective method of producing home-grown green gas and electricity, and contributing to the UK’s 2020 renewable energy, recycling, decarbonisation, and climate change targets.

“By using the relationship between research and industry at our R&I Forum at the University of York on 6-7 April to develop a strategy for how this additional funding could be best deployed, together industry and academia can encourage manufacturing and pave the way for the UK to become a world leader in anaerobic digestion.”

According to the ADBA, as government funding continues to fall, the AD sector has never been under more pressure to improve operational performance, manage environmental practice and find ways of maximising the energy and fertiliser outputs, as well as look to create newer, higher-value products to increase AD’s competitive edge.

The ADBA Research & Innovation 2016 forum, now in its sixth year, is the only event of its kind that brings the AD industry, academia and the public sector all under one roof in partnership with the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Anaerobic Digestion Network and the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).

The theme of this year’s forum is ‘Translating Research into Profitability’ - click here for more information.